That one time they crossed the town line
by GayAndReadyToSlay
Summary: With Henry at University Emma and Regina decide to start a new life together somewhere outside Storybrooke. As it turns out, it may not be as easy for them as they imagined. Regina’s body doesn’t react well to the complete lack of magic and more issues arise as the story progresses.
1. Is it worry I see in your emerald eyes?

**Chapter 1: Is it worry I see in your eyes?**

She knew she should be happy. Sitting in a black Mercedes breathing in warm July air. If she looked to her right, she could see a lake they were currently passing. The light reflecting on it's surface was almost blinding. They were surrounded by the sea of trees and colourful flowers, it was a beautiful view, yet she turned her gaze to the opposite side with no regret. At her left side green eyes met with the beautiful brunette she loved, the woman who filled her life with so much light and happiness she hadn't believed she would ever find. Her chocolate eyes focused on the road before them, leading the pair to their new life together. No, not a new life, a new chapter. And Emma knew she should be happy right at that moment. She wanted to be, she was. At some point. But above all, she was worried.

All she could think of for the past few days was how anxious she truly was. Right now, however, among these feelings her mind was filled with confusion and questions that still remained without an answer. Or rather one question in particular, why was she the only one worried? Why was Regina so calm?

**— • —**

_**A week earlier...**_

Emma was sitting on a couch, with a pillow under her back and her, mostly, bare legs laying on the coffee table. She was still dressed in shorts and a tank top - her usual sleeping attire. It was no surprise though, she had only gotten up a few minutes prior. Her gaze was focused on the latest issue of "Storybrooke Daily Mirror" that she'd found that morning on the porch. There wasn't honestly anything interesting to read in it though, then again, was there ever? As much as she, among everyone else, appreciated the writing talent Kathryn, who took over the Newspaper after Sidney, discovered for herself, she couldn't change the fact that in Storybrooke simply nothing interesting happened those days. Weather for the upcoming week? Rain. Of course, so good to be moving out of here, she thought. Then her eyes followed to the end of the page, as she changed her focus to the next one she couldn't stop the obvious shocked expression from appearing on her face as she read the headline "The bittersweet goodbye party for the Saviour, everyone's invited!"

_What the-_

She heard a forced cough coming from the entrance to the room, newspaper forgotten as she looked up to see Regina standing before her wearing a robe and a white towel on her head, a few strands of her dark hair managed to escape it but the brunette didn't seem to notice, or care. Emma stared at her as if she was hypnotised, realising only after what felt like ten minutes but was approximately twenty seconds, the look her girlfriend was giving her. She suddenly lowered the long forgotten newspaper to her lap and moved her legs from the coffee table.

"Sorry." She murmured giving Regina a sheepish smile. The brunette waved her hand, letting the blonde know it was alright, and sat closely next to her on the couch. Close, and yet far enough for Emma to know that whatever she was about to say was important. Most likely too serious for a morning conversation.

"I think we need to talk" Regina finally announced after minutes of silence. Emma decided not to say anything, waiting for Regina to voice whatever it was on her mind.

"Good morning to you too." Emma grinned at the brunette before her, Regina returned the smiled but continued her initial thought.

"It's about our plans. I think I need to... warn you about something. Remember our conversation about magic?" Emma nodded at once remembering that conversation very well, most citizens of Storybrook demanded for the former Queen to get rid of magic completely. Regina explained to her just how bad of an idea that was. Apparently magic isn't all unicorns and rainbows, mages are connected to it physically. It becomes a part of them with time and at some point it's an element that their body considers crucial to live. Regina's used magic for such a long time that getting rid of it would only do more harm to her.

"Yes, well, you may remember that I explained to you that magic has become a part of me quite literally. It is in my blood, it fills my whole body. When we leave, when we start living out there, in a realm without magic, my own will slowly fade away. And once I'm left without any bit of magic at all... I don't know what will happen but-"

"Will it put you in some danger?" The last thing the blonde wanted was for Regina to suffer. She had experienced enough hurt in her life, she deserved the peace and calm.

"I don't know. I don't think it will be anything major, I just know it will be... something."

"How eloquent of you." Emma smirked trying to lighten up the mood. Knowing Regina well enough to use brunette's own tricks and lines to tease her was one of Emma's favourite things to do lately.

Regina smiled at the comment, and put her hand over Emma's, tangling their fingers together. "I'm just telling you this because you deserve to know. I'm sorry it's so late, I didn't think of it before and-"

"Regina, is it going to hurt you? Living completely without magic? I mean, didn't you live without it for twenty eight years?"

"I wish it had been that easy. I lived without an ability to use magic, not without magic. Storybrooke was created by the curse, it's magical, everything in it is and it has always been. This place is filled with magic, and it's the only one that has it within this whole realm. I have never been outside of Storybrooke for longer than a week, I've never experienced my magic fading away completely. I don't know what to expect."

"You don't know?" Emma stood up at once, irritated by how calm Regina seemed to be about it. _They were talking about her health here!_ _What if this could cause Regina constant pain? Or hurt her badly? Worst of all, what if this could kill her?_

"Emma calm down, I don't know if we even have anything to worry about. I'm just saying there is a possibility of some... complications along the way, eventually my body will adjust-"

"No, Regina, no." Emma paced around the living room, right hand pressed to her forehead as if that could help the growing concern and fear for the woman she loved. "If this can hurt you, then we can't go. I can't let anything happen to you just because I don't want to live in this bloody town. We can stay here, I mean, it's not that bad, is it? Although I guess Mary Margaret will have to figure something out with the party she's organising for me, she is organising a goodbye party, did you know tha-"

"Emma." When did Regina stand up? And when did she approach her? Emma didn't know. The brunette put her hands on the blonde's shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, which she did, a little bit.

"Emma, look at me please. I know it may be scary, but look, we are going through with these plans." Emma opened her mouth to speak but Regina interrupted her quickly enough. "We are going because it's not only you that wants this. I want it too. It was our decision, and if all it takes is for me to have a few days of flu? Then I will gladly face them. What we will gain is far more important and larger than the price I may have to pay. So we are going Emma, and there's nothing you can say or do to persuade me otherwise."

Silence filled the house again, they stood there looking at each other, love and concern mixed in both, brown and green orbs.

"I don't want you to pay at all." Emma said at last, exhaling a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. And it was true what she said. She didn't want Regina to pay. Why everything had to have a price? Why couldn't they just do something for once and not have to worry about what it will cost.

"I know, but I'll be fine. We will be fine." Regina assured her, moving one of her hands to Emma's back of her neck and pecking quick, yet sweet, kisses to her lips. Finally the blonde relaxed and kissed her deeply putting her hands around the brunette's waist.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

**— • —**

**_Three weeks after the move..._**

She entered the kitchen and was met with a, sadly, familiar sight to her. Regina stood closely to the counter, her left hand griping on it's edges, her right on her forehead. A glass of water standing before her and an opened bottle of painkillers next to it.

"I take it the headache still didn't let go?" Emma stepped closer to the brunette, also doing a quick scan over the brunette's body to make sure nothing else, visible at least, happened to her. She couldn't help the bad feeling she has had ever since Regina's headaches started. The fact that they were getting worse didn't help either, although the brunette wouldn't admit it.

"It appears so."

"Can you go sit at the table? I'll handle breakfast today." Which meant grilled cheese since that's more or less all Emma could cook without worrying about putting the whole kitchen on fire, but she left that part unsaid. Although she was fairly sure the brunette secretly enjoyed grilled cheese, she knew her girlfriend would never admit to it.

"Yes I can, believe it or not but even though I have a headache, it doesn't make me unable to walk." Emma put her hands up in surrender and watched as Regina went to the table and sat on one of the chairs. Then she started the breakfast.

**— • —**

They were both almost done eating, engaged in a conversation they were having about the differences between the Game of Thrones' books and the Game of Thrones show, which Emma was a huge fan of and Regina claimed it's part of her "research about this world". Their conversation was interrupted however by Regina's phone notification sound heard from their bedroom.

"It's probably Henry, checking in on us as usual. It's hard to say which one of us is the parent these days." Regina sighed getting up to head for the search of her phone. Once she was standing though everything suddenly got dizzy. She lost her balance and slammed her right hand onto the table to keep herself standing, as well as making Emma look up from her empty plate, the green eyes filled with worry.

Emma's eyes went wide and she stood up, Regina didn't know why at first. She quickly found out though, she felt something on her lips and under her nose, reaching out with her hand to check what it was, she already knew what she was about to find there. Even in the blurred world she found herself in she could see the red colour of blood on her fingers.

Emma was holding her, one hand around her shoulders, the other protectively around her waist. When did Emma move from her chair?

"I'm... fine." She managed to say, or rather whisper, before her eyelids became too heavy to keep her eyes open.


	2. Three Wishes and a surprise named martha

**Chapter 2: Three Wishes and a surprise (named Martha)**

Regina woke up in their bedroom bathed in darkness, the shutters remained shut down. She was covered with a blanket, or rather had been for now it was only thrown over her legs, which must mean she was fidgeting during her sleep. That has been happening quite frequently lately, Emma complained about it a few times, Regina remembered.

Suddenly severe pain in the back of her head reminded her about the reason why she now found herself sitting in her bed in the afternoon. The door was opened and she could hear sounds of Emma abusing their kitchen, perhaps making a dinner, was it dinner time already? How long had she been asleep?

Regina stood up slowly, eager not to repeat the same mistake from this morning. The world went dizzy again, but it seemed as though that's all that would happen. After several deep breaths she headed for the door, once she, after much longer and more exhausting journey than she had anticipated, reached the kitchen she found herself looking at Emma, who seemed to be trying to figure out which pan should she use. What for, Regina never found out. The brunette glanced quickly over the window and was surprised to find out that it was, in fact, already dark. According to their clock it was 8pm. Great, she thought bitterly.

"It looks like I had a solid nap." She said teasingly, therefore announcing her presence in the room. Emma turned at once, two pans still in both of her hands. Her expression changed immediately from the confused one to worry and yet also relieved one. She put the pans on the counter and approached Regina, followed by a tight hug she gave the brunette. The brunette supposed she should've gotten accustomed to gestures of that kind by now, yet, she found herself quite surprised by the unexpected hug. Emma had to notice, because once she pulled back putting her right hand softly over the brunette's cheek, she offered her a little explanation.

"You scared me. Are you alright? After I made sure you were breathing I decided to let you have some rest but I have to admit, I did not expect you to sleep through the whole day and I was starting to worry."

That on the other hand wasn't anything unexpected, Regina learned many things about the blonde during the course of their relationship and one of them was that Emma was highly protective over the people she loved. She wasn't sure whether it was an asset or not if she's being honest. The brunette hated seeing her partner worried, and right now she was the cause of that worry. She had to fix it.

"I'm perfectly alright." She took Emma's hand in her own and brought it up to her lips to leave a few kisses on her knuckles. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Regina I'm serious. You are not fine, what happened this morning is not something that happens to people that are 'perfectly alright'. What do we do now?"

Regina sighed and stepped away from the blonde to lean on the counter. She wouldn't admit it, but she was exhausted. Exhausted to the point that she wasn't sure she could remain standing for much longer.

"We don't do anything. Emma, it's going to be alright. I told you there might be some complications. Nothing serious happened after all. Come on, don't let this little... incident, ruin your mood. Don't worry about it. I'm fine." Emma swung her hands over her head, a sign she was irritated that Regina knew far too well.

"You are not fine! Regina you had a fucking nosebleed and lost consciousness this morning! We have to do something about this, how can you just brush it off like it's nothing?"

"Because it is! Stop telling me how I feel, I said I'm fine, which means exactly that, I'm fine. You are overreacting Emma." The brunette exclaimed, clearly upset with the other's reaction.

The blonde started pacing before Regina who suddenly got much paler than before, Emma, too angry with how untouched by the events of this morning her girlfriend seemed to be, didn't notice.

"I'm not overreacting, goddamn it, I'm just worried about you. I have every right to be! And if you think I will just let you ignore those... symptoms, then you are absolutely wrong."

Regina put the right hand over her forehead, the world slowly going back to it's dizziness from the morning.

"Emma, look. I get it that you're worried but-" Her soft tone was interrupted however by Emma's sudden, definitely not expected and, truth be told, pretty hurtful, question.

"Do you?" She asked harsher than she meant it to be, turning to Regina and looking in those chocolate eyes, she asked again. "You think you understand, but do you?"

Regina parted her lips to speak but no sound came out, for about a minute they were standing in front of each other, looking into each other's eyes. Finally Emma saw the hurt creeping behind those dark orbs, she realised now what her question might've sounded like, before she could explain what she meant though, Regina jumped to the conclusion.

"I don't understand. Right, how could I? Me? The Evil Queen can't possibly know what it means to care for somebody, let alone worry over them." She pulled away from the counter, ignoring the headache and how her stomach rolled as she did so, she headed towards their bedroom. Suddenly wanting nothing but sleep.

"Regina, wait, no. I didn't mean it like that, let me explain. What I-" The hand she put on the brunette's arm was brushed off as Regina turned around partly to give the blonde an angry stare, but Emma could see through her mask, could see that she, even though unintentionally, hurt her.

_Dammit Swan, get a grip. Think before you say, god._

"I think you've said enough for tonight." And with that Regina disappeared to their bedroom, with every intention of getting back to bed, which she did, although she couldn't get more sleep that day. She also couldn't specify what hurt more, the fact that Emma thought she wasn't capable of understanding what worrying over someone means or feels like, or the fact that, apparently, Emma believed Regina didn't care or worry for neither her nor Henry. No, Emma couldn't really think that... could she?

**— • —**

What the hell was she doing? Emma had no idea. But what choice did she have? Trying to talk to Regina was impossible now, she knew it. She needed to give the brunette some space. But Emma was pissed too. Despite the fact that she understood she hadn't exactly chosen the right words, she still was pissed. Not at Regina in particular, but rather the situation itself.

And so that's how she found herself in front of the nearest bar she could find. 'Three Wishes', what a name, she thought. Well, it had to do for the night.

Once inside Emma didn't waste any time to take a look at her surroundings, she didn't come there for a party or to have fun. She came there to drink, there was no reason to try and pretend otherwise.

Somewhen during her third drink, and four men told to go find a better place to sit than next to her, what pulled her out of her thoughts was a familiar, light voice calling her name from behind.

"My, my, Emma? Is that you?" The blonde turned around to see a woman about her age, a bit shorter than her even wearing heels, her hair was dark, almost black, and longer than Emma had remembered. She was wearing a purple, short dress, well some people certainly intended to have fun tonight, Emma thought. Oh, and those freckles, Emma would recognise them anywhere.

"Martha? Wow, I mean, I didn't expect to see you here... or anywhere for that matter. It's been-"

"Too long." The woman, Martha, smiled and locked her blue eyes with green ones. "What are you doing here, Swan? Last time I checked you left me in New Orleans to go, well, god knows where." Her tone wasn't accusing though, in fact it was teasing and nothing like what Emma would've expected.

"Yeah, right." Emma brushed her hand over her neck, an awkward tick she couldn't suppress. "Sorry about that, I, uh, well I was in many places since then. You know how it is, work. Houston, Atlanta, Saint Louis. Finally I ended up in Boston, eventually settled in a small town in Maine and, um, here I am now."

"Settling down or starting fresh?"

"I guess both? Come on, enough about me, tell me what have you been up to." She brought her glass back to her lips and swallowed the rest of her drink in one gulp.

"With pleasure, come on let's find a booth, I gotta say my life hasn't been boring either!"

And so Emma spent that evening with Martha, an evening that took much longer than she anticipated. By the time Martha was telling her a story of her ex that tried to steal her dog and Emma had told her already about both Henry and Regina, the blonde checked her phone. Four missed calls, all of which were from her girlfriend. Her eyes went wide when she saw what time it was, 3am.

What were you thinking, Swan...

**— • —**

After a quick explanation that she should head back, and a goodbye, followed by 'see you around, Swan', she indeed went home. Which wasn't easy at all. In fact, Emma found it truly difficult to stand straight or focus on what turn she should take now.

_Too much to drink, Swan, too much!_

Finally she managed to get back and found herself in front of the door, trying to open it up. The keys had a completely different idea though and did not make this task easier for the saviour. She kept trying until the door opened from inside and Regina stood there in her robe. Her face red and the tear tracks under her eyes easily visible. Emma wasn't in a position to notice though. In fact, she probably wouldn't even know it was Regina opening the door if it wasn't for the fact that no one else lived with her.

The brunette stepped aside letting Emma in. As soon as the blonde entered the apartment and started losing her balance, the brunette threw her arm over her shoulders and led her to the bedroom. She didn't say anything as she undressed Emma and helped her put on the shorts and tank top the blonde slept in, usually at least. Finally she told her to lie down, going to her own side of the bed and doing the same. Facing away from the blonde, which wasn't anything new, she always preferred to sleep that way, Emma would usually throw an arm over her waist and snuggle. This night wasn't an exception, and yet it was so, so different.

"I lo-love you 'Gina, y'know?" Emma mumbled in the brunette's hair and tightened the grip around her.

"I know." Regina sighed quietly.


End file.
